Post navigation

Locavore News — World

Edible Austin’s sipping social unites eating, drinking, & dancing for charity. If you’ve been feeling down with the end of the Spring food event season, food quarterly Edible Austin has you covered with a big summer shindig. They’ve taken it upon themselves to launch their 2013 Beverage issue with a 1920’s-themed bash in the ’04 next weekend. The party is dubbed “Sipping Social”, and the charitable event on Friday, June 21 will feature local food, beer, wine, and spirits along with live music from Cats & The Canary and a video installation. Austinist blog.

Food miles are a distraction. Local food is not.

The other week, Lloyd posted a response to a Jay Rayner article which had argued that worrying about food miles was missing the point. It’s hardly a brand new topic—I’ve argued before that “food miles” oversimplify a complex issue, and Pablo and Lloyd have looked at the carbon footprint of local food. Still, as Jay Rayner agreed in the comments section of Lloyd’s post, the fact that “food miles” are over emphasized is no reason to abandon the notion of local food. Instead, we need to focus on a broader understanding of what a sustainable food system might look like. Here are some of the pieces of that puzzle. Tree Hugger blog.

A Truly Local Shop for Truly Local Products

When you buy from ‘Truly Local’ we make sure you know exactly where your food comes from because we only source produce from within a 35 mile radius of our shop in Stalham, Norfolk. If it’s grown, made, brewed, baked, caught, reared, preserved, pickled or smoked, we make sure our 60 local suppliers are carefully chosen for quality, freshness and ethical standards. Website.

REG Food guide launched to highlight food made from local goods

A NEW guide has been produced which aims to promote North-East eateries who look to put more local produce on the menu. The Love Food group has created the North Pennine Dales Food Supplier Directory. It provides information on the use of locally grown or reared food in the Teesdale, Weardale, the Allen Valleys and Derwentside areas. Hazel Coppack, director of Love Food, said: “We field a number of enquiries from eateries who would like to use more local produce, but aren’t always sure where to go for specific items. Northern Echo story.

Totally Locally

A totally free, award-winning campaign Totally Locally gives your town an award-winning marketing and branding campaign in a kit, just like the big multinationals have (and spend thousands of pounds on!). The only difference is that it’s free for any town or village to use. That’s because we’re a bottom-up campaign… rapidly becoming a properly awesome social movement. It costs nothing except some passion, some drive and a determination to get things done. Totally Locally is more than a shop local campaign. It’s about working together to lift your whole town. Website.

Make it better with your own butter

I have a secret confession – something that you may find shocking. In our family, we buy cream by the gallon. In fact, we usually buy it two gallons at a time. If you can feel your arteries hardening while you try to imagine how anyone could possibly use that much cream, please bear with me as I explain how we came to this practice. One day I decided to try making butter from local cream. As with many local foods made fresh, it was a revelation. The natural flavor and texture were amazing! I could also omit the salt, making it even healthier to eat. Bellingham Herald, Whatcom Locavore blog.

A Taste of Locavore Living: Once You Go Fresh, You Never Go Back

You may be wondering, “Are the positive effects of eating local really worth the extra effort required?” It’s a fair question and one that can be answered different ways. Many people point to the environmental benefits: By shortening the distance between farm and table, carbon emissions are reduced; small farms tend to use more environmentally-friendly farming practices than industrial-scale growers; and a diversity of farms and crops, rather than a handful of mega-farms, helps preserve natural genetic diversity and healthy ecosystems. NOLA Defender blog.

CEO Corner: Crescent Ridge Dairy and ‘locavore’ movement

In this segment Crescent Ridge Dairy CEO Mark Parrish talks ice cream, the “locavore” movement and how his business is expanding beyond milk. “We’ve got this wonderful farm in Sharon, 43-acre farm in Sharon where we milk cows for generations, but found that we just didn’t have enough space for that, and wanted to find ways to reinvigorate the agriculture on our farm, which is a fairly modest sized farm, and we’ve been raising angus beef and been raising pork for the last few years,” Parrish says. One of the top ten ice cream destinations in the world. Video interview.

Big Local (UK)

Big Local is an exciting opportunity for residents in 150 areas around England to use at least £1m to make a massive and lasting positive difference to their communities. It’s about bringing together all the local talent, ambitions, skills and energy from individuals, groups and organisations who want to make their area an even better place to live. Big Local is being run by Local Trust, which is working with £200m from the Big Lottery Fund and a range of partners providing expert advice and support for residents. Website.

New York Only Ranks 25th On The Locavore Index

You’d think between the abundant green markets, rooftop farms and cutesy locally-made food that we’d shoot right to the top of any list touting a state’s commitment to locally-sourced product. But a study by Strolling of the Heifers, a Vermont-based local food advocacy group, ranked our fair state the 25th most (least?) locavore state in the country (including the District of Columbia). At least we beat out New Jersey? Gothamist post.

AND IF YOU HAVE TIME

Cop a (rubbish) tip and pop out to a pop-up learning centre

Pop-ups have taken hold among chic fashion retailers and trendy restaurants in the inner suburbs. Now an adult education centre in Melbourne’s east is embracing the concept and its first classroom will be a rubbish tip. Coonara Community House in Upper Ferntree Gully will also run classes in cafes, dance studios and even caravan parks in the hope of enticing students who had not previously considered taking adult education courses. The Age Victoria story.